Offensive Security Unveils Penetration Testing Labs for IT Professionals

Offensive Security (OffSec), an information security training and certification provider, has announced the Proving Grounds (PG) penetration testing labs for IT and security professionals. The news comes after OffSec in July acquired the VulnHub open source security training resource hub.

Two PG pen testing labs are available: PG Play and PG Practice. IT and security professionals can use the labs to learn hacking techniques and improve their security and pen testing skills, according to OffSec.

PG Play is available free of charge and includes up to three hours of daily private access to Linux machines from OffSec's VulnHub community, the company stated. Meanwhile, PG Practice is available via a paid subscription and provides unlimited access to OffSec-created Linux and Windows machines.

All PG labs users also can access an OffSec community hosted on the OffSec platform, the company indicated. They can use this community to engage with support staff and other students and further enhance their security and pen testing skills.

Remote Pen Testing Software Now Available for MSSPs

PG Labs and PG Play can help IT and security professionals learn how to effectively perform pen testing to identify and address security vulnerabilities. Furthermore, software is available that allows MSSPs to perform pen tests remotely.

Pen testing company Pcysys in April began offering its PenTera automated penetration testing platform to MSSPs. As such, MSSPs can use PenTera to deliver remote network pen testing services.

Furthermore, research indicates that many organizations are expanding the scope and frequency of pen tests across their applications. This could lead MSSPs to increasingly incorporate pen testing services into their portfolios.